You'll reduce their chances of accurate return fire greatly, but if you are chain firing at some random guy he might be more likely to run out of a lock before all missiles hit and it won't be as strong of a burst in the given time, that and it reveals your position more than firing a single large volley would. I know when I pilot anything looking to flank I look to the sky.
EDIT: thats for LRMs I mean.
For UACs or massed ACs it really depends. You either pick between spreading damage more but reducing enemy accuracy and keeping damage pinpoint and trying to kill them faster. Preference I guess, but know that if your enemy has the temperment to keep their fire going then you would be better off with them dead.
I remember just a day or two ago I was running a quad UAC5 mauler and had walked into an enemy group of 3 or 4 mechs, the screen shake was great as one of them was a king crab with UACs and there was a dragon with what seemed to be dual AC5s, but I kept my fire going even if it wasn't fully accurate and was able to put enough shots on them for some to back up and I was able to back out before I died. I survived that whole match with one medium laser left.
Edited by Dakota1000, 05 October 2015 - 03:57 PM.